OSG David Grinding Services replaces paperwork with an AI-driven workplace

Collaboration with Sirris speeds up work planning

How much time does your shop floor waste every day looking for the right work order, technical drawings or manually transferring instructions?

At OSG David Grinding Services, this was a recurring challenge. During a short support programme with Sirris, the company looked for a more efficient approach. The result exceeded expectations: an AI-driven application that largely eliminates paperwork and time-consuming searches.

Precision work requires an efficient shop floor

OSG David Grinding Services in Kuurne, West Flanders, is a specialist precision grinding company. Over more than 45 years, the company has built up strong expertise in regrinding cutting tools such as drills and milling cutters.

OSG David is part of the international OSG Corporation, a Japanese global leader in cutting tools with branches in 25 countries and a product range of more than 37,000 items. With a team of around 16 employees, the company delivers precise and skilled work for customers across a wide variety of manufacturing industries.

Paper-based work planning slowed down production

Until recently, work planning at OSG David was largely paper-based. For every regrinding order, employees had to look up technical drawings, retrieve machine settings and consult quality control parameters. This was done through printed documents, folders and verbal communication.

The approach worked, but it was time-consuming and prone to errors. In a precision grinding environment, every detail matters. An incorrect setting or missed quality criterion can make a workpiece unusable.

The pressure to work quickly and accurately made the paper-based process especially demanding. OSG David knew there was room for improvement, but did not yet have a clear vision of where or how to begin.

From inspiration to a bespoke AI solution

The programme started with an inspiration session at the House of Manufacturing demonstration lab in Kortrijk, a realistic production environment with a fully paperless shop floor. There, employees from OSG David discovered how digital tools can make the workplace more transparent and user-friendly.

These practical examples immediately made the possibilities of digitalisation tangible. During a second session, Sirris experts analysed the day-to-day shop floor operations together with the team. It quickly became clear where the biggest time savings could be achieved: the work preparation process for regrinding orders.

An initial proof of concept with Microsoft Power Apps already offered a partial solution. With this low-code platform, companies can quickly develop simple business applications without in-depth programming knowledge. However, the flexibility proved insufficient for OSG David’s specific needs.

One AI app centralises all work information

Sirris and OSG David therefore developed an AI-driven application tailored to the shop floor together.

The solution is surprisingly easy to use. An employee scans the barcode of a work order with a tablet. All relevant information then appears immediately on the screen:

• Technical drawings
• Machine settings
• Quality control parameters

As a result, paper folders, manual searches and unnecessary movements disappear from the process. All required information is instantly available in one central place.

From a three-day programme to an internally supported solution

The strength of the programme lay in its speed and focus. In just three sessions, OSG David and Sirris moved from a vague need to a working application.

The approach followed clear steps:

1. Inspire
2. Analyse
3. Build

This ensured the solution closely matched the reality of the shop floor. After the promising first results, OSG David decided not to outsource the maintenance of the application, but to continue developing and refining it internally. That is exactly the approach Sirris aims for: supporting companies so they can later take control themselves.

The result: less searching, fewer errors, more focus

The impact on the shop floor was immediately noticeable. Employees no longer need to search for the correct documents. One barcode scan is enough to make all relevant information available. This not only reduces preparation time, but also lowers the risk of errors caused by outdated or incorrect information. The workflow becomes simpler, faster and more user-friendly.

Equally important is the mindset shift created by the programme. OSG David has now gained its first concrete digitalisation experience and clearly wants to go further.

What this collaboration with Sirris demonstrates

The OSG David case shows how quickly digitalisation becomes tangible when technology starts from real shop floor needs.What distinguishes this programme is the combination of speed and depth. Sirris not only brought technical expertise in AI applications and digital shop floors. The team also guided OSG David step by step in analysing needs, setting priorities and building a solution that can independently evolve further.

Today, the project forms a basis for further digitalisation. Possible next steps are already clear:

• Integration with the ERP system for automatic synchronisation of work orders
• Expansion towards other processes such as quality registration
• Tracking machining histories per tool to better predict wear and maintenance

In just three days, OSG David moved from inspiration to a working prototype. That perfectly illustrates Sirris’s hands-on approach.